Clear Water

[jar05g]

Hey guys. Just curious if anyone doses their water to make it more clear...or anything I can do to make my water a little more clear. Also, I am using an Emperor 280 HOB...is it ok to stack LR around the intake tube to get it covered up?

[bertoni]

Stack up the live rock is fine as long as the live rock is secure enough not to tumble, and the intake tube can still be removed for cleaning.

There are lots of treatments people use for clearer water. I think activated carbon, UV, and ozone are the more common choices. They might or might not help, depending on the cause of the cloudiness.

[jar05g]

Ok. I just wasn't sure if the end of the intake tube had to be clear so it could suck in water.

[bertoni]

Well, there needs to be room for water to flow, but that should be fairly easy to arrange.

[minireefer03]

I added ozone to My tank about 6 months ago and it stays crystal clear.You have to be careful not to overdose it.Use an orp controller.

[jar05g]

Ozone? I have never heard of that. Could you please explain a little further?

[demonsp]

If filter had bio wheels you need to remove them. Making the water clear is possible without additives.
How old is this tank?
How much stock and type?
Any powerheads?
Amount and type of subtrate?
Amount of LR?
Any CUC?

[bertoni]

This article is the first in a three-part series on ozone:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-03/rhf/index.php

[jar05g]

It's the Emperor 280...is has 1 bio-wheel. The tank has been up for about 2 months...closer to 2 and a half. It has cycled. At the moment, I have two hermit crabs and a cleaner shrimp. No fish...I had fish, but took them out because they weren't the correct fish...meaning too big for a 29 gallon. I have a leather, polyps, torch coral, and sponge. I have about 20 lbs. of LR. I use CaribSea LS...with about a 2" sand bed. I also have one Hydor Koralia 2 powerhead.

[demonsp]

The bio whell is a nitrate collecter. Need to remove. Read this for proper flow importance. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature/view

You need more LR. Just add some base rock to bring to minimum 1 lb per gallon. Also SB a little low.

DO you water change and do you let the new batch circulate befoer you add?

[jar05g]

So I don't need the bio-wheel? It's ok to just keep the blue carbon cartridge in there? I do a 10% water change every other week on Sundays. I will mix my water in a 5 gallon bucket on Saturday so that it can aerate.

[demonsp]

The bio wheel just collects nitrate. You let the water airate but does it circulate via powerhead?
10% everyother week maybe fine but hard to tell without water readings. If you have any high readings then 20 or 30 % followed by weekly 10 to 20 % to fix.
DO you have the readings available?

[jar05g]

I don't have a spare powerhead to throw into my bucket so it basically sits over night. I test before I add to my tank and all readings are 0. In my tank now, Ammonia and Nitrite are 0, Nitrates are 15. pH is 8.0 and SG is 1.023.

[bertoni]

I wouldn't remove the bio-wheel until you're sure that there's enough live rock in the tank to handle the filtration load. For that matter, removing it could cause an ammonia spike. What's in the tank?

[jar05g]

There's NO fish in my tank. Only two hermits and a cleaner shrimp. That's it besides my corals and LR.

[demonsp]

Testing batch before adding does nothing really. And you really need to circulate the batch via powerhead. Nitrates high.DO you use unfiltered tap water?
Also agree with bertoni with bio wheels. you should get readings low and level first.But i would remove asap.
Your SB will help convert nitrate into harmless nitrogen but not if flow is low and SB brown and unturned. Then it just collects nitrate.

[jar05g]

That's the thing, my readings are perfect EXCEPT for nitrates. Even with my water changes they have really never come down. I use RO water that I buy from LFS for my water changes. I think I'll remove the bio-wheel and just leave the carbon cartridge and see if things get better.

[demonsp]

You need more cleanup crew. Also not sure i waould trust LFS for water source.
Can you test for phosphate?
A pic of your tank would help.
DO you feed the critters you have?

[jar05g]

I don't have a phosphate test kit yet. I bought the API Master Kit and bought a Calcium test as well. I do feed the critters I have some random flakes and garlic pellets. I have frozen brine shrimp, but I'm scared to put an entire cube in there because there isn't enough live stock to eat it all. You think it's ok to remove the bio-wheel?

[demonsp]

Your nitrate are high and anything to drop would help. Change out the crabon filters also. You dont need to feed the crabs and i would target feed the shrimp a very small amount of flake oand brine.Use a turkey baster. I think your doing the opposite as most as most fully stock tank way to soon. But you are understocked.Add a few fish and more CUC with sandsifters top on the list.
DO a 25% water change followed by weekly 10% changes.Before you do the change stir a small area of the SB and blow debris off the LR to help reduce uneaten food and other debris.
Change out carbon after the water change.

[jar05g]

Ok. Well I'm glad I'm not over-stocked. I had a problem with Ich. I've actually been fish-less since the Monday after Thanksgiving. I wasn't planning on adding a fish until after the New Year. I just got my QT up. I had a 5 gallon ready to go, but I was given a 10 gallon so I had to add another 5 gallons to it and it went into another cycle. I don't want to throw a fish straight into my DT. When you say stir a small area of the SB...you literally mean just a small area..maybe the size of a coaster right? and not the entire SB?

[demonsp]

Yea about that daily would be good but befoer water change would could go double.

[jar05g]

Well just to be clear...these are my plans as of this weekend...actually Sunday. I'll do a 7 gallon water change. Before I take out the water, I will stir a portion of my SB and blow any debris off my LR and corals. Then I will take out the 7 gallons and replace with aerated pre-mixed SW. I just took out my bio-wheel. This filter comes with a spray bar so I had to aim it back into the cartridge box so you couldn't hear the water splashing. I wish I could just take out the spray bar, but you can't. Hopefully this will clear up my tank, and bring down my Nitrates.

[demonsp]

The spray bar can be fixed. At the bottom there is a plate that directs flow. Remove this flat plate to stop spray bar.

You say its not clear. What does it look like?

[jar05g]

At the bottom of what? Where is this flap lol? It's clear for the most part...it's just not as clear as I would like and what I've seen with other tanks. I will post a picture of it tomorrow when my light comes back on. I don't want to give the false impression that it's really cloudy...because that's not it.

[demonsp]

There should be a removeable tube that connects the spraybar.Under this tube should be a removeable plate.On the bottom.

[jar05g]

Lol...I'm sorry man...but I don't see any plate under the tube. Am I looking on the outside or the inside of the filter box? Btw...thank you for being so patient. You've been a great help!

[demonsp]

My peguin filter has 2 spraybars and under each tube that supplied flow to them was a plate to direct flow to them. I had to lift them out and they looked like the bottom of the filter. If yours is differant then look for anything used for directing flow to these bars. Remove the tubes and bars and look on the bottom.

[jar05g]

See...there is a tube, and on the outside of the filter is a little knob that you turn to direct the spray bar. If I pull out the bar, then water will come squirting out. I don't think it's really that big a deal. I have the spray bar aimed towards the back of the filter box and I don't hear anything.

[jar05g]

http://www.marineland.com/products/manuals/emperor_manual.pdf

Read that and tell me what part it is.

[demonsp]

#7 listed in the parts list in the single flow unit.

[jar05g]

Ok. I'll check on it. The 25% water change won't send my tank into a mini-cycle right?

[jar05g]

Also, after I take the water out of my tank, could I use some of that water to do a water change in my QT? It's a 10 gallon so maybe I could use 2 gallons of DT water for it.